Lighting the Burning Bowl

On the first Sunday of the year, the Ethical Society of Austin held a Burning Bowl ceremony.  Each of us present wrote down a problem or trait or issue that we wanted to "get rid of" in the coming year on a small piece of flash paper.  We each lit our paper and watched our problem/trait/issue burn and, in some cases, float away.  As moving as a Burning Bowl ceremony can be, this one had a special feature.

As it happens, we used the humble kitchen match to light our papers.  To light the match, however, we touched it to the flame of our meeting lantern, rather than striking it on the side of its box.  The striking panel, alas, was just too worn to do the job.  After the ceremony had ended and we were reflecting together on its meaning and impact, one member (was it Lucy?) noted the significance of the fire that we used.

ESOA has few true rituals.  We call ourselves together with the note of a single chime.  This is the signal to turn off cell phones, stop chatting, come sit together, and focus on the meeting.  Once any announcements or preliminary discussions are completed, a member is called to light the lantern.

As the lantern is lit, the day's leader reminds us:

May we kindle within us the warmth of compassion, the light of understanding, and the fire of commitment to build a brighter future for all.

This is the point at which we turn to the heart of the meeting, the activity, platform, or colloquy that will help us to reflect on the meaning and direction of our lives.  On this day, the activities included the Burning Bowl ceremony. At the end of a meeting, our leader reminds us:

As the candle is extinguished we ask that you keep within you the warmth of compassion, the light of understanding, and the fire of commitment to build a brighter future for all.  

These are simple statements that never fail to inspire me.  The lighting of the lantern, the invocation of meaning, the solemnity of the moment all enrich the experience of the meeting.

How fitting it was, then, that we used the fire of that lantern, transferred through the kitchen match, to burn away the problematic issues that we sought to end.

Now we all knew--and know--that the action of lighting the lantern is merely symbolic.  It's not always a perfect process for all that the symbolism of lantern and fire are powerful in many cultures.  Sometimes the lighter is cranky.  Sometimes the candle goes out.  Once, at least, a leader forgot to have the candle lit until the program had already started.  Stuff occurs.   The ideas behind the lighting of the lantern are not subject to the vagaries of circumstance.  Even so, it does seem that circumstances did work on this day to increase our sense of meaning in the Burning Bowl, to increase the power of the image of our burned-away problems.

For me, the ceremony was already beneficial.  The notion that we used the flame of our lantern to burn away the pain took things a bit further and enhanced my confidence in my ability to do the real work that the Burning Bowl had symbolized.  I had--have--a heartache, a pain so strong that I know it will harm me if I continue to hold on to it.  With the Burning Bowl, I learned that I had the power to choose to let go of that pain.  I could objectify it, separate myself from it, and turn it to flame and ash.  With the added symbolism of the lantern's fire, I could see where understanding of the source of the pain and compassion for both myself and that source could allow me to commit myself (fierily?) to making my future one where I have left that pain behind.  It's work in progress, yes, but the lantern's fire gave me some tools.